1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an electrically operated folding partition, hinged wall system, or the like, including a plurality of rigid panels accordion folded for movement between closed and open positions with the panels being supported by a longitudinal track, or the like, and provided with a control arrangement so that the panels will be automatically positioned in a straight line, flat condition when in their fully closed position and automatically moved to their folded, stacked position when in their fully open position with the operation of the panels being in response to an appropriate control switch, or the like, thereby eliminating manual initial movement of the panels to "break" the panels from their straight line, flat fully closed position when they are to be moved to an open position and eliminating manual final movement of the panels into a straight line, flat condition when being moved to a fully closed position.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Folding partitions, wall systems, and the like, supported from longitudinal trackways with the panels being continuously hingedly connected for accordion folding movement between open and closed positions have been known for many years. With the advent of relatively large panels, nominally 2 to 6 feet in width and 2 to 6 inches in thickness and up to 25 to 30 feet in heighth, considerable effort is necessary to manually open and close a partition resulting in the provision of power operated between a fully open and a fully closed position. However, even with such power operated devices, it was necessary for the adjacent panels to be manually moved into their final straight line fully closed position and manually moved out of their flat, straight line fully closed position due to the hinge axes, located on opposite surfaces of the partition, having to pass through a straight line position. It thus was necessary to initially manually move the panels to and from their straight line position with the hinge axes on opposite surfaces of the partition in order for the entire partition to be positioned in the fully closed position to form a flat wall surface or to be accordion folded to open condition.